On April 21, we hiked an out and back hike to the Kepler Overlook on Little North Mountain. We started out by parking at a car camping site along the Cedar Creek and following a gated Forest Service fire road for a half mile to the blue dotted-i blazed Tuscarora Trail.

Once on the Tuscarora Trail we crossed Cedar Creek. The creek was high due to recent heavy rains, but we all made it across using rocks and fallen tree trunks without getting wet. Well, that's not entirely true. I was the first to cross and when I stepped on one of the large logs it broke where I stepped and my boot went underwater for a second, but because of the miracle of GoreTex I stayed nice and dry.

Once across Cedar Creek we were in a very nice campground. People before us had split some large tree trunks to make two large benches with backs around the fire ring, situated so you could sit back and relax by the fire, and watch the creek flow by. There was also a long table, like a counter top, made from another split log. The camp was very nice, but it's in the flood plain of the creek, so care should be taken when using this site.

We continued on, following the blue dotted-i blazed Tuscarora Trail as it began to switchback while climbing Tea Mountain. There was another creek crossing along this stretch, but there was a bridge made by lashing three logs as the main bridge and lashing a fourth as a hand rail, to two trees on either side of the creek, The bridge is sturdy, but be forewarned that the logs making the deck of the bridge will shift and roll a little, so that only one person should cross at a time.

After the bridge, the trail continues to climb Tea Mountain. The trail follows an old logging road for a stretch, then just past two miles into the hike it makes a tight left hairpin turn and narrows as it begins to climb more steeply. We found an unblazed trail that was marked by a small cairn and followed it for about 100 yards to a large rock outcrop that had a very nice view west of Little Sluice Mountain. I could see White Rocks, a tremendous overlook that I hiked to last year.

We followed the unblazed trail back to the blue dotted-i blazed Tuscarora Trail and continued to climb, eventually reaching a saddle between Tea Mountain and Little North Mountain. The trail climbs to the ridge of Little North Mountain and then levels out and follows the ridge line. Soon after gaining the ridge we came to an unblazed trail on our right (east) that led to several nice campsites and the Kepler Overlook.

There are several large, flat, grass-covered areas that are suitable for multiple tents at the overlook. We built a fire in a fire ring at the overlook and roasted hot dogs for lunch.

From the overlook, we looked east across the valley to Massanutten Mountain, and beyond Massanutten we saw Mary Rock, Stony Man, Hawksbill, and some other peaks located in Shenandoah National Park.

We stayed at the overlook for a while, eating lunch and enjoying the view, then we retraced our footsteps down the mountainside on the blue dotted-i blazed Tuscarora Trail back to our vehicle. We will definitely keep this hike in mind for those times when we want to get out for a quick overnight backpack.